By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO

Published: November 17, 2002

Correction Appended

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16—
Want to attend Fairleigh Dickinson University's School of Dentistry? The Immigration and Naturalization Service says you can, even though the dental school shut down a dozen years ago.

How about attending its Rutherford campus? That, too, is still open, but only in the world according to the I.N.S. computer system. In the real world, Fairleigh Dickinson sold its Rutherford campus eight years ago.

The largest private university in New Jersey, Fairleigh Dickinson found itself tangled in bureaucracy over the last two months, as a problem in the I.N.S. computer system blocked foreign students accepted for admission this January from obtaining visas.

Late Thursday night, after two months of phone calls, the involvement of a congressman and finally a query from a reporter, the I.N.S. fixed the problem.

University officials were elated, until they realized that changes at the university, about which they had notified the immigration service repeatedly over the last decade, were apparently ignored.

''The good news is that 60 days of exasperation seem to have come to an end, but the same data correction stuff we've been trying to get done for 10 years still hasn't been done,'' a senior vice president at the university, Mark Campbell, said. ''It's not resolved, but at least we're on the right path.''

Fairleigh Dickinson's problems with the immigration service have troubled higher education officials, who say it bodes ill for a new automated system set to monitor the entire country's student visa system. The inspector general's office of the Justice Department has warned that the new Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or Sevis, will likely not be functioning smoothly at full capacity by the end of January, but I.N.S. officials have vowed to have the full system working in time. ''Fairleigh Dickinson is Exhibit A in what seems to be a fairly significant problem schools are having,'' said Terry Hartle, a lobbyist here for the American Council on Education, which represents universities. ''This doesn't lead us to feel very comfortable about where the I.N.S. is.''

''When you're dealing with an electronic system that is handling one million-plus entries a year,'' he added, ''it shouldn't be held together by twine and baling wire.''

A spokesman for the service, Chris Bentley, said that he would look into the problems with the new computer system, but he had no further explanation.

The Association of International Educators is also appealing for more focused, efficient procedures for screening visas, and for realistic estimates of how long it takes to review visa applications.

In a survey of 77 institutions, the group said hundreds of students and faculty members did not reach their universities in time for the start of fall classes because of visa delays.

About 10 percent of Fairleigh Dickinson's 10,000 students come from overseas, most of them to study business, engineering, computer science and nursing. The computer problem left some 300 incoming freshmen stranded in China, India, Israel and other countries.

One of them, Narayan Raghavan, in the Indian state of Madras, said he was so concerned about getting a visa that, because of the time difference, he was sleeping days and staying up nights trying to reach university officials in New Jersey.

As morning dawned in Madras, word reached Mr. Raghavan that the problem at Fairleigh Dickinson had been solved. Before going to sleep, he tapped out an e-mail message. ''I am thrilled now,'' he wrote, ''and would attend my visa interview on the 20th itself.''

Correction: November 20, 2002, Wednesday An article on Sunday about a problem in the Immigration and Naturalization Service computer system that was blocking visas for foreign students accepted at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey gave an incorrect description of Madras, where one of the students lives. It is a city in India, not a state.